When I was a kid, it was a yearly tradition to attend the Santa Fe Bluegrass and Old Time Music Festival with my parents. On one of these occasions, a family friend turned to me and asked, "Does this music get your foot tapping?"
It didn't.
But the genre I didn't have patience for as an 8-year-old has made its way into my subconscious, and I have come to like it. On Aug. 16, I saw the band Atomic Grass as it delivered  traditional bluegrass music at the Santa Fe Bandstand.
When I come downtown, I always imagine what it must be like from a tourist's eyes: admiring statues and jewelery vendors on Washington Street, peeking into art-filled gallery windows on Canyon Road If one meanders to the pedestrian-crowded Plaza at noon or 6 pm, the sounds of restaurantgoers is replaced by those of bandstand bands. 
The Santa Fe Bandstand provides background music for shopping and strolling, not to mention it's a free, all-ages concert that welcomes dogs. Luckily, this is not a once-a-year event like the festivals I attended as a child. Santa Fe Bandstand, produced by Outside In Productions, takes place every week, Mondays through Thursdays, July 5-Aug. 19.
This particular day, the guitar, fiddle, bass, banjo and country accents of Atomic Grass gave the shady square the atmosphere of a festival. Atomic Grass took its audience back to a time when songs were simple and straightforward. It sung universal stories of heartbreak in an upbeat tempo.
The concert attracted a small but enthusiastic audience. If audience members weren't bobbing up and down with friends, they were on the dance floor directly below the stage, dancing their hearts out.
I joined them with my foot tapping in tribute to my parents' musical taste.